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How Much Time is Wasted “On Hold”?

Between maneuvering through automated phone systems and sitting “on hold” I just know that time is being eaten away from my work day. While I am not going to take the time to figure out just how efficient sitting on hold is and I do try to find ways to “multi-task” and do other things while I am hanging on a phone call—I still think it is one of the liabilities or expenses of doing business!

I expect that when I call the bank or particular suppliers that I will need to listen closely in order to push the right buttons and I will likely be on hold for a while. What gets me is when people call me and then ask me to hold! Whenever that happens, it never fails to catch me off guard (that and when people call and then apologize for chewing in my ear because they’ve just put a wad of food in their mouth)—it is bad enough that I should hold on calls that I initiate, but I’m not sure why I should have to hold on calls I didn’t even ask to receive in the first place!

I imagine that if we added up the total minutes that all of us home business owners spend “on hold” or trying to work our way through a multi-level automated phone answering system during the course of a day, a week, or even a year—we might get a pretty staggering number. Imagine what the cost in terms of productivity and dollars spent on long-distance phone service actually is! I know that it is just one of those “costs of doing business” that we all have to contend with, but there are times when I am convinced it takes a fairly big chunk out of my productivity!